


Storytime

by shellygurumi



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Library, Fluff, Human Castiel, Librarian Castiel, Librarian Dean, Librarians, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 05:19:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1292845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shellygurumi/pseuds/shellygurumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas might possibly have a crush on the storytime guy who comes to the library every Tuesday afternoon. Dean Winchester is good with the kids and nice to look at. However, he's not sure how to ask him out. Luckily, Cas's birthday is coming up and Dean takes measures into his own hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Storytime

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ANobleCompanion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ANobleCompanion/gifts).



> This was to celebrate the birthday of my dear friend and bestest beta, ANobleCompanion. <3 Happy Birthday, darling~

When Cas got to work that morning, the blank daysheet was already on the help desk, waiting for people to sign up for their shifts. It was Tuesday, which meant storytime was going to happen in the kids area at 10:30. He quickly signed up for the 10:00 and 11:00 time slots in the kids room. Normally Cas was pretty ambivalent about where he worked at what times, letting everyone else pick first and then taking whatever no one else wanted. He had no strong feelings about being at the desk first thing in the morning or in the afternoon, nor did he usually care if he was in the kids room when there were fifty kids running around, pulling books off the shelf and leaving things a mess. Other people had a problem with that, though.

The only reason Cas cared about it on Tuesdays during storytime was because of who came in to tell the stories. Dean Winchester. Dean was not the kind of guy you would expect to see in children’s programming, but he really was great. It was clear that he loved children and didn’t have any qualms about making a fool of himself for their benefit. He was silly and wore a big smile, sang songs with them and read books in an animated fashion. Cas thought it was especially cute to see him playing games with the kids. So the one selfish thing Castiel did at work was make sure he got to be in the room, watching Dean during storytime.

“Morning, Cas,” Dean said, as he walked into the room. He went about setting up his props and books, sheets of nametags and event calendars as Cas shelved books.

“Morning.” He smiled Dean’s way but never knew what else to say. It wasn’t that Cas was shy. He really wasn’t a particularly shy person, he just wasn’t sure how to approach Dean or what to talk about.

Kids started trickling in and Dean’s attention turned to them. He crouched down and greeted every one of them, knowing many by name despite not having put their nametags on yet. Today’s tags, Cas noticed, had clip art of cakes, streamers, presents and candles. That usually indicated the theme of storytime, which Cas guessed meant it was some sort of party theme today.

“Hey, you ready for an awesome storytime today, Grady?” Dean asked a little boy in overalls. The boy had big, wide eyes and looked like he was just barely 2 years old. He nodded at Dean.

“Oh, he’s very excited,” Said the woman with the little boy.

“Awesome! Well, you’ve got some time to look at some books before we get started, then grab a good seat.” Dean ruffled Grady’s hair, then turned to the next little girl who walked in, she was clutching a little stuffed animal. “Hey, Elizabeth! What have you got there?”

“Piggy!” She said, and held up the fuzzy brown stuffed animal for Dean to inspect. He took it and turned it around in his hands before handing it back.

“Is that a guinea pig?”

“Uh-huh.” She nodded and hugged the toy to her chest.

“That’s great! I’m sure Piggy is going to enjoy listening to stories with you today.”

She smiled shyly and hugged her mother’s leg. Dean and the mom both laughed and Dean stood up to let them pass into the storytime area, letting them know they would start in a few minutes. Eventually a whole crowd filled the open area of the floor in the children’s room and Dean went ahead and started storytime.

“Today, we are talking about birthdays! Who here has ever had a birthday before?” He asked the group and a few of the kids chimed in talking about a birthday they had or their older sibling who just had a birthday. One kid proclaimed sternly that she had never had a birthday before, which made all the grown ups laugh. The mother reminded her of her second birthday party.

After the brief conversation, Dean led the group in their usual welcome song, then jumped straight into reading a book. It was all about dinosaurs in various vehicles of all different colors going somewhere. They all had packages in wrapping paper that they took somewhere. Dean asked the kids what colors the vehicles were on every page and the kids enthusiastically answered. He asked what types of vehicles they were when it was obvious, like a truck or motorcycle. In the end, it turned out all the dinosaurs were getting ready for a surprise birthday party for the littlest dinosaur. In unison, at the end, Dean had all the kids wish the dinosaur a happy birthday.

([art by HappyFunBallXD](http://happyfunballxd.tumblr.com/post/79110103749/))

They sang a song about birthdays next and read another book, then played a game and read a final short book. Cas stood near the shelves but didn’t really do any work because he spent the whole time watching Dean, as he usually did. He would have plenty of time to shelve a cart of books when storytime was over and, anyway, it was hard to move around the shelves with all the kids in the room. That was the justification everyone else used.

When the children and their parents finished picking out books and headed on their way, Dean began packing up his books and props. Before heading to the little table to collect his sign and whatever nametag stickers were left, he walked over to Cas.

“Did you enjoy storytime today?” He asked, very much like the way he asked the children as they left.

Cas smiled, “I did, yes.”

“You know why I chose that theme?”

Looking at Dean curiously, brows furrowed together, he shook his head. “No? The same reason you choose any theme?”

Dean scoffed a laugh. “Your birthday is tomorrow, isn’t it?”

“It... is, yes. But how did you know that?” That hadn’t been the answer Cas was expecting.

“It’s on the birthday list in the office. I go through there every time I’m here to drop off my coat.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought you noticed.”

Dean shrugged. “I might have checked specifically to see when yours was. After all, you are my biggest fan. Not a hard contest, of course, ‘cause the rest of them are under two feet tall.”

Cas closed his eyes and hung his head after hearing that joke. He brought a hand up to cover his face.

“Seriously, though, you got any plans for your birthday?”

“Not really,” Cas lifted his head and returned his attention to Dean.

“What do you mean? Not even, like, dinner with friends or family?”

Cas shrugged. “No. I guess I don’t celebrate very much.”

“Then how about this. You and me, drinks and dinner. My treat.” Dean smiled broadly and Cas didn’t know what to say, exactly.

“That really isn’t necessary.” He shook his head.

“Of course it’s not necessary, it’s fun. Come on. Could you really turn down this face?” He struck a pose befitting a male model and it was so ridiculous that it made Cas laugh.

“How could I resist?”

“That’s the spirit! Here, give me your number. I’ll give you a call tonight.”

“A... Alright,” Cas nodded and pulled a pen from his pocket. He didn’t have anything to write on, though, until Dean shoved his hand out. Cas only hesitated a moment before taking Dean’s hand and writing his phone number on the other man’s palm.

“Cool.” Dean said, after looking at his hand. “I’ll call you tonight and we’ll set something up. I’ve got to get going though. Have a good day, Cas.”

Dean winked at him before turning to collect the last of his things. He smiled once more at Cas, looking back over his shoulder before he left the room. Cas wasn’t entirely sure what just happened, but what he gathered from the conversation was that he was quite possibly going on a birthday date with Dean Winchester. Maybe there was something to celebrating birthdays.

 

That night, Dean called and made arrangements for them to meet up at a local bar that was known for having a good beer selection as well as good food. It was pub food, but somehow that seemed Dean’s style and also put Cas more at ease. A more casual, low key date was preferable to something fancy. They met up on Friday night at the bar, Cas was running late because, like an idiot, he had trouble deciding what to wear. Eventually he settled on a pair of well worn jeans which Charlie had insisted made his butt look good and a solid colored button down shirt, left untucked. Charlie had been insisting forever that tucking in the shirt was a bad look and also made sure he left the top two buttons were unfastened.

Nervous and frustrated that he was late, Cas walked in and found Dean waiting near the doors, just inside the bar.

“Hey, Cas!” He called and waved him over. “You’re just in time. I think we’re next up for a table.”

The bar was crowded, being a Friday night, but Dean had already put his name down on the wait list. Sure enough, a couple left and once the table was cleared by busboys, Dean and Cas were seated at it. They started with small talk as the perused the menus and picked out what to eat and what beers they would try first. Cas quickly learned that Dean was a big fan of good beers and ended up suggesting one for Cas to try. The small talk turned from the usual “how’s it going? how was your day?” variety to more personal things, like how they both got into their respective professions.

Cas ended up working in libraries quite by accident, after his part time job working at his college library. After graduation, it was the only work experience he’d had and since he enjoyed it, he applied for the public library. Dean talked about how he practically raised his little brother and that he always had a fondness for children. He tried for a while to get a teaching job, but when the library posted the early childhood literacy programming job, he applied for the hell of it, then got it. He hadn’t looked back since.

The more that Cas learned about Dean, the more fond of the man he became. Over the course of the night, they talked about everything from work to music to movies and books. They talked about family and told stories about friends. Dean bought Cas beer after beer, not with the intention of getting him drunk, just keeping the drinks coming so he could try all the best ones. If Cas didn’t like any of them, Dean drank it instead and ordered him a different one. By the end of the night, they were both happily buzzed, but sober enough.

Dean paid the tab at the end of the night, insisting because it was a birthday present. Cas tried to fight him for it, but only got to leave cash for the tip. When they left the bar, they both decided it was best to go for a walk around town to sober up just a little bit more before either of them attempted driving.

“Thank you, for tonight,” Cas said.

“Sure thing.” Dean shrugged, pushing his hands into his pockets. The night was nice, warm and clear with a slight breeze. A few clouds floated by in the sky, occasionally obscuring the moon from view.

“I have to admit, I’m still surprised you noticed it was my birthday at all.”

“Really?” Dean looked over at him.

“I guess I didn’t expect that you would care.” Cas said and Dean looked away. “That came out more harsh than I intended. Not because you’re uncaring but because I didn’t think I... Well, I didn’t think you paid that much attention to me.”

Dean laughed at that, a much brighter laugh than Cas would have expected. “How could I not notice you when you watch me every single time I’m at your branch?”

“What do you mean?”

“No one else pays that much attention to kid’s storytime, Cas.”

“Oh...” Cas thought about that for a moment. “So... all that time, you knew I was watching you, I guess.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured that out. Honestly, I thought you would have asked me out like, a month ago.”

“I didn’t think you’d be interested.”

“Well, I started to wonder if maybe you weren’t interested and I was misreading it. So I kinda asked Charlie.”

Cas cringed and looked away. Dean laughed brightly at him. “I can only imagine what Charlie told you.”

“Basically she said go for it,” Dean chuckled. “I’ll spare you the exact words.”

“If it hadn’t resulted in you asking me out anyway, I might have to have a few words with her.” Cas grinned at Dean.

“But it came out as a win, right? I mean... I had fun tonight.”

“Me too,” Cas nodded and bumped his shoulder into Dean’s.

“So ... got any plans for next weekend?”

Cas took a deep breath and cringed, “Well, I have a hot date with a guy I met at work.”

At first Dean looked angry, then realization slowly dawned on his expression. He stopped walking to laugh, full and amused. One arm wrapped around his stomach as he leaned back slightly. Cas stopped to watch him, appreciating the sight of Dean’s happy laughter. When he straightened again, the two of them stood face to face, and Cas was met with Dean’s happy expression.

“I guess I’ll just have to wait my turn, then.”

“Guess so. I am what you might call, a hot commodity.”

“I’d definitely call you hot,” Dean said and stepped forward. He slipped an arm around Cas’s waist and pulled him in for a hug.

“I could say the same about you,” Cas lifted his arms to hug Dean about the shoulders. Dean and Cas both leaned in at the same time and shared a warm, soft kiss. They tilted their heads and worked lips against lips slowly. The kiss broke after a moment, but they kept their faces pressed close together. Dean tightened his arms around Cas a little more and then kissed him again, this time on the side of the mouth.

“So next week?” Dean asked again.

“It’s a date.”

“Happy Birthday, Cas.”


End file.
